Moving mechanism for motor-driven staplers

ABSTRACT

A poisoning groove  16  is formed at a slide guide shaft  4 , and a lever  15  of a driver unit  1  is engaged with the positioning groove to position the driver unit. A clincher unit is positioned by engaging a positioning pin  10  of a clincher unit  2  with a pin hole  13  of a slide guide table  3 , the driver unit is provided with an engageable connecting pin  9 , and the positioning pin and the connecting pin are driven by a cam plate  12 . When the cam plate is rotated by 180 degrees, the positioning pin  10  is detached from the pin hole  13  to make the clincher unit  2  movable, the clincher unit and the driver unit are connected by engaging the connecting pin  9  with the driver unit, and the clincher unit and the driver unit are integrally traveled.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a moving mechanism of an electricstapler, particularly relates to a moving mechanism of an electricstapler promoting positioning accuracy.

BACKGROUND ART

There is known an electric stapler device in which a plurality ofelectric staplers are mounted to a guide shaft or a guide rail, and theelectric staplers are moved in conformity with a size of a sheet ofpaper to thereby change a pitch of striking staples. According to anelectric stapler of this kind, a driver unit and a clincher unit areseparated, the driver unit is mounted to one of two guide shafts orguide rails arranged in parallel with each other, the clincher unit ismounted to other thereof to make the driver unit and the clincher unitopposed to each other by interposing a sheet table, and the driver unitand the clincher unit are moved on the guides in synchronism with eachother by a moving mechanism.

The moving mechanism is a publicly-known synchronizing mechanism inwhich wires or timing belts are hung around pulleys arranged atrespectively both ends of the guides arranged in parallel with eachother, the pulleys on a side of the driver unit and the pulley on a sideof the clincher unit are connected by a single pulley shaft, and thedriver unit and the clincher unit are respectively coupled to a singlepoint of the timing belts or wires, and by driving to rotate the pulleyshaft, a pair of the electric staplers symmetrically come closer to eachother or remote from each other to thereby change an intervaltherebetween.

Although the moving mechanism of the electric stapler of the backgroundart is constituted such that the two electric staplers symmetricallycome closer to each other or remote from each other by the synchronizingmechanism using the wires or the timing belts, it takes a lot ofman-hours for positioning the driver unit and the clincher unit whenthey are assembled, moreover in some cases, a binding failure may occurby a positional shift between the driver unit and the clincher unitcaused by an ageing change.

Hence, there poses technical problems to be resolved in order to resolvea concern of a binding failure by promoting accuracy of positioning adriver unit and a clincher unit and promote productivity by facilitatingassemble operation, and it is an object of the invention to resolve theabove-described problems.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The invention is proposed to achieve the above-described object, andthere is provided a moving mechanism of an electric staplercharacterized in a moving mechanism of an electric stapler for travelinga driver unit and a clincher unit which are separated from each otherrespectively along slide guide members, constituted such that the twoslide guide members are respectively formed with positioning holes orpositioning grooves, the driver unit and the clincher unit are providedwith locking means of slide pins or levers engaged with the positioningholes or the positioning grooves, the clincher unit and the driver unitare provided with connecting means comprising slide pins and pin holes,the driver unit and the clincher unit are formed to be able to switch totwo states of connecting the driver unit and the clincher unit andreleasing the driver unit and the clincher unit from being connected bymoving the slide pins, switching means for driving the locking means andthe slide pins are provided, by connecting the clincher unit and thedriver unit and releasing the locking means from being engaged, theclincher unit and the driver unit can integrally be moved.

Further, there is provided the moving mechanism of an electric staplerconstituted such that a motor-driven cam is provided to the clincher orthe driver unit including the locking means and the slide pin of theconnecting means, and the connecting means and the locking means areintegrally driven by the motor-driven cam.

Further, there is provided the moving mechanism of an electric staplerconstituted such that the slide pin of the connecting means provided atthe clincher unit or the driver unit presses the slide pin or the leverof the locking means of an opposed side in connecting the clincher unitand the driver unit to release the clincher unit and the driver unitfrom being engaged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1( a) and FIG. 1( b) show one embodiment of the invention, FIG. 1(a) is a side view of an initial state of an electric stapler, and FIG.1( b) is a side view in moving the electric stapler.

FIG. 2( a) and FIG. 2( b) show a moving mechanism of the electricstapler, FIG. 2( a) is a plane view of a state of fixing at A position,and FIG. 2( b) is a front view of the state of fixing at the A position.

FIG. 3( a) and FIG. 3( b) show a stapler traveling mechanism, FIG. 3( a)is a plane view, and FIG. 3( b) is a front view.

FIG. 4 shows a moving mechanism of the electric stapler, and is a frontview of a state of moving to B position.

FIG. 5( a) and FIG. 5( b) show other embodiment, FIG. 5( a) is a sideview of an initial state of an electric stapler, and FIG. 5( b) is aside view of a state in moving the electric stapler.

Further, in notations of the drawings, numeral 1 designates a driverunit, numeral 2 designates a clincher unit, numeral 3 designates a slideguide table, numeral 4 designates a slide guide shaft, numeral 7designates a pin hole, numeral 8 designates a pin hole, numeral 9designates a connecting pin, numeral 10 designates a positioning pin,numeral 11 designates a cam pin, numeral 12 designates a cam plate,numeral 13 designates a pin hole, numeral 15 designates a lever, numeral16 designates a positioning groove, numeral 17 designates a groovedroller, numeral 18 designates a grooved roller, numeral 19 designates atiming belt, numeral 20 designates a motor, and numeral 21 designates anarm portion.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A detailed description will be given for one embodiment of the inventionreferring to the drawings as follows. FIG. 1 (a) and FIG. 1( b) show thedriver unit 1 and the clincher unit of the electric stapler, and a sheetof paper on a sheet table (not illustrated) arranged between the driverunit 1 and the clincher unit 2 is pinched to bind by the driver unit 1and the clincher unit 2. The clincher unit 2 disposed below the driverunit 1 is mounted on the slide guide table 3 at inside of a staplerframe (not illustrated), and the driver unit 1 thereabove is mounted tothe slide guide shaft 4 provided in parallel with the slide guide table3. A driver is included at a front portion of the driver unit 1, aclincher opposed to the driver is included at a front portion of theclincher unit 2, although illustration thereof is omitted, the clincheris moved up to press the sheet to a lower face of the driver unit 1, amagazine (not illustrated) at inside of the driver unit 1 is moved up,the driver is relatively moved down to inject a staple, and a legportion of the staple penetrated through the sheet impinges on theclincher to be folded to bend to bind the sheet.

A ceiling plate 5 and a bottom plate 6 of the clincher unit 2 are formedwith the pin holes 7, 8, the connecting pin 9 for connecting with thedriver unit 1 is inserted into the pin hole 7 on an upper side, and thepositioning pin 10 for fixing a position of the clincher unit 2 isinserted into the pin hole 8 on a lower side. End portions of theconnecting pin 9 and the positioning pin 10 are respectively providedwith horizontal head plates 9 a, 10 a, and the head plates 9 a, 10 a arebrought into contact with two upper and lower faces of the cam pin 11.The cam pin 11 is provided at a side face of the cam plate 12 arrangedat sides of the connecting pin 9 and the positioning pin 10, and whenthe cam plate 12 is rotated by a motor (not illustrated), the cam pin 11is circularly moved on a vertical plane.

In an initial state shown in FIG. 1(a), the positioning pin 10 is fittedto the pin hole 13 of the slide guide table 3 through the pin hole 8 ofthe bottom plate 6 to fix the clincher unit 2 at a predeterminedposition, and when the cam pin 11 is moved up by rotating the cam plate12 as shown by FIG. 1( b), the positioning pin 10 is moved up by beingpulled by a tension spring 14, and drawn out from the pin hole 13 of theguide table 3 to bring the clincher unit 2 into a movable state.Further, the connecting pin 9 is projected upward from the pin hole 7 ofthe ceiling plate 5 to move into the driver unit 1 through a pin hole(not illustrated) formed at a bottom plate of the driver unit 1. Insideof the driver unit 1 is provided with the lever 15, a front end portionof the lever 15 is opposed to the connecting pin 9, and when theconnecting pin 9 is moved up, the lever 15 is upwardly pushed up by theconnecting pin 9. A notched portion in a shape of a circular arc isprovided on the middle portion of the lever 15, and the slide guideshaft 4 is positioned at inside of the notched portion. The slide guideshaft 4 is formed with the positioning groove 16 in a peripheraldirection for fixing the driver unit 1 at the predetermined position,and in an initial state shown in FIG. 1( a), the lever 15 is engagedwith the positioning groove 16 to fix the driver unit 1 at thepredetermined position.

As shown by FIG. 2( a) and FIG. 2( b), the positioning groove 16 of theslide guide shaft 4 and the pin hole 13 of the slide guide table 3 aremade to correspond to, for example, a binding position A of a sheet ofA3 size and a binding position B of a sheet of A4 size, and atrespective fixed positions, positions of the driver of the driver unit 1and the clincher of the clincher unit 2 accurately coincide with eachother.

FIG. 3( a) and FIG. 3( b) show a constitution of a stapler travelingmechanism, the grooved rollers 17, 18 are arranged on a lower side ofthe slide guide table 3 and on outer sides of both ends of a range oftraveling the electric stapler, the timing belt 19 is hung around thetwo grooved rollers, and the grooved roller 17 on one side is driven bythe motor 20. The two clincher units 2 are provided with the armportions 21 at respective lower faces thereof, in FIG. 3( a) and FIG. 3(b), the arm portion 21 of the left clincher unit 2 is coupled with adepth side of a loop of the timing belt 19 and the arm portion 21 of theright clincher unit 2 is coupled with this side of the loop of thetiming belt 19. Therefore, when the motor 20 is driven to rotate in theclockwise direction in FIG. 3( a) and FIG. 3( b), the left and rightclincher units 2 become closer to each other symmetrically, and when themotor 20 is driven to rotate in the anticlockwise direction, the leftand right clincher units 2 become remote from each other symmetrically.

Next, operation of the moving mechanism will be explained. When the twoelectric staplers are moved, the cam plate 12 is rotated by 180 degreesfrom the initial state of FIG. 1( a) to bring about a state of FIG. 1(b) and FIG. 4. At this occasion, the positioning pin 10 is moved up tobe separated from the pinhole 13 of the slide guide table 3 andtherefore, the clincher unit 2 is brought into a movable state. Further,the connecting pin 9 is engaged with a pin hole (not illustrated) of thebottom plate of the driver unit 1 to connect the clincher unit 2 and thedriver unit 1, the lever 15 at inside of the driver unit is moved up torelease the lever 15 and the slide guide shaft 4 from being engaged, andalso the driver unit 1 is brought into a movable state.

Further, when two sets of the clincher units 2 and the driver units 1are moved respectively from A positions to B positions or from Bpositions to A positions by driving the motor 20 shown in FIG. 3( a) andFIG. 3( b) to stop at constant positions, and thereafter returned to theinitial positions by driving to rotate the cam plates 12 by 180 degrees,the positioning pins 10 are fitted to the pin holes 13 of the slideguide table 3 to fix the clincher units 2, and the connecting pins 9 aremoved down to fit the levers 15 to the positioning grooves 16 of theslide guide shafts 4 to fix the driver units 1.

Further, although according to the above-described embodiment, theconnecting pin 9 and the positioning pin 10 are separated from eachother, as shown by FIG. 5( a) and FIG. 5( b), the connecting pin 9 andthe positioning pin 10 may be integrated by forming a cam follower in ashape of a box by connecting the respective head plates 9 a, 10 a of theconnecting pin 9 and the positioning pin 10. Further, the invention isnot limited to the above-described embodiments but can variously bemodified within the technical range of the invention and the inventionnaturally includes the modifications.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As explained above, the moving mechanism of the electric stapler of theinvention is provided with the mechanism of connecting/releasing theclincher unit and the driver unit and therefore, the clincher unit andthe driver unit can integrally be moved by the moving mechanism of awire, a belt or the like arranged only on one side of the clincher unitand the driver unit, and a constitution thereof is more simplified andassembling thereof is more facilitated than those of the movingmechanism of the background art in which wires or belts are arranged onboth sides of the clincher unit side and the driver unit side. Further,positioning means are provided to both of the clincher unit and thedriver unit and therefore, positioning in assemble operation is simple,operability is promoted, a positioning shift is not brought about afterassembling, and stability and reliability are also promoted.

1. A moving mechanism of an electric stapler, wherein a driver unit anda clincher unit separately formed from each other are traveled alongslide guide members provided in correspondence with the respectiveunits, comprising: positioning means formed at respectives of the twoslide guide members; locking means, provided at respectives of thedriver unit and the clincher unit, for engaging with the positioningmeans; and connecting means for switching the driver unit and theclincher unit to two states of connecting the driver unit and theclincher unit and releasing the driver unit and the clincher unit frombeing connected with each other, wherein the positioning means and thelocking means are released from being engaged with each other byconnecting the clincher unit and the driver unit by the connectingmeans, and the positioning means and the locking means are engaged witheach other by releasing the clincher unit and the driver unit from beingconnected with each other by the connecting means.
 2. The movingmechanism of an electric stapler according to claim 1, wherein amotor-driver cam is provided to the clincher unit or the driver unit,and the connecting means and the locking means are integrally driven bythe motor-driven cam.
 3. A moving mechanism of an electric stapler,wherein the electric stapler comprises a driver unit and a clincher unitseparately formed from each other, comprising: a slide guide shaft thatguides the driver unit; a slide guide table that guides the clincherunit; a positioning groove formed on the slide guide shaft; a pin holeformed on the slide guide table; a lever provided in the driver unit andincluding a notched portion engageable with the positioning groove; apositioning pin provided in the clincher unit and engageable with thepin hole; and a connecting pin provided in the clincher unit and movableinto the driver unit, wherein the driver unit and the clincher unit areconnected when the connecting pin moves into the driver unit, wherein,when the driver unit and the clincher unit are connected, the notchedportion and the positioning groove are disengaged and the positioningpin and the pin hole are disengaged, and wherein, when the drive unitand the clincher unit is disconnected, the notched portion and thepositioning groove are engaged and the positioning pin and the pin holeare engaged.
 4. The moving mechanism according to claim 3, wherein theclincher unit comprises cam, and wherein the positioning pin and theconnecting pin are integrally driven by a movement of the cam.
 5. Themoving mechanism according to claim 4, wherein, when the positioning pinis driven to disengage with the pin hole, the connecting pin is drivento move into the driver unit, the lever is upwardly pushed up by theconnecting pin, and the notched portion and the positioning groove isdisengaged, and wherein, when the positioning pin is driven to engagewith the pin hole, the connecting pin is driven to move down, the leveris downwardly moved, and the notched portion and the positioning grooveis engaged.